Second Chance Summer, by Morgan Matson Publication: May 8, 2012, by Simon and Schuster BFYR Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Romance Pages: 468 Format: Paperback Source: Gifted Rating: 
Taylor Edwards’ family might not be the closest-knit—everyone is a little too busy and overscheduled—but for the most part, they get along just fine. Then Taylor’s dad gets devastating news, and her parents decide that the family will spend one last summer all together at their old lake house in the Pocono Mountains.
Crammed into a place much smaller and more rustic than they are used to, they begin to get to know each other again. And Taylor discovers that the people she thought she had left behind haven’t actually gone anywhere. Her former best friend is still around, as is her first boyfriend…and he’s much cuter at seventeen than he was at twelve.
As the summer progresses and the Edwards become more of a family, they’re more aware than ever that they’re battling a ticking clock. Sometimes, though, there is just enough time to get a second chance—with family, with friends, and with love.
Michelle’s Thoughts:
I can’t take it anymore. I have to spill it out. I have to bawl, make fun of myself secretly since I’m SUCH A NERD, and fangirl. Fangirl until there isn’t anything else left of me. Morgan Matson, you have rocked my world for the fourth! time with this beautiful piece of art and literature that is too amazing to just call “a book.” Second Chance Summer is racing, mesmerizing and unlike anything I’ve read before. I hope you like to get hit with nonstop tears and sadness because she just did it. It’s marvellous.
Second Chance Summer is a wild ride that I am SO fortunate to have read about. Books like this don’t show up in people’s lives often, and I just can’t stop thinking about this “world” that the main character, Taylor, has us in. Her summer life in Lake Phoenix is like the dream I’ve always had—not the sad stuff, obviously, but the summer days by the lake, making friends that you’ll miss everyday when you’re not with them, and feeling like you’re in a different place for a little while. If I could pick any place in any book that I’ve ever read to visit, this world definitely would be one of them, just to be there for the characters and understand what it’s like to have a summer fling. Hah.
“What was the point of trying to run away if people were going to insist on reminding you of what you were running from?” (10)
Taylor Edwards, Morgan’s teenage protagonist, is a clear replica of many girls, including myself. When I read her story, I imagined myself in her situation and I promise you that I’m sure that I would do the exact same things as she did. We’re kind of connected, to be honest. *winks* Taylor was relatable, easy-going and just so awesome. She had feelings, not like as if she was some kind of clone who walked around and pretended to feel things. This is like a story of someone’s life, so realistic and inspiring. There’s loss, love and just about everything many people eventually feel in their lives when the right time comes. It’s a life lesson filled with themes that not every novel gets into, sadly.
I keep talking/typing about loss, sadness. Morgan wrote about that with so much passion. Taylor’s father has cancer, and her family is about to spend one last summer with him in the place that he loved the most, Lake Phoenix, where they have a summer house. I guess that you don’t realize how life can fly by until the moments where you need more of it the most, right? Taylor is instantly brought back into the times of hatred and memories that she wouldn’t like to get back into, but she’d do anything for her role model, her father. She has a former best friend there, Lucy, and her first crush, Henry, who lies behind.
I say that this is a beach read, but it isn’t at the same time. First off, you’ll look like a maniac crying on the beach in public where you should really be laughing around and giggling like the cute person you are. THIS HAS FEELS, FOR THE FIFTEENTH TIME. You have feels, everything has feels and your eyes will just water up and explode. You can’t help it. No other contemporary author other than Morgan will make you cry the same way, feel things the same way. It is pretty easy-going at times, but the cancer thing just made the mood way more intense.
“His arms were around my back, pulling me closer, and I looped my arms around his neck and ran my hands over his jawline, suddenly not able to stop touching him. And while we kissed, up there among the trees, the rain tapered off until, at long last, the sun came out.” (358)
Can’t you see how descriptive this novel is? The writing? The plot? Everything about it is perfection and 5/5 gazillion stars. No flaws, people. A second chance summer definitely beats the old first chance, first love kind of thing, because no in NO WAY was this any kind of instant romance between Taylor and Henry. In fact, it was magical and precious. I love romances where one of the characters will help the other in ways that are definitely not understood to the regular being. It’s a deep romance that is intense and crazy, but not in any ways that would make me frown. HENRY IS FICTIONAL BOYFRIEND #1. I say that in every review, but this time it means a lot. Agh.
Second Chance Summer is the first and only chance I’ve given this book because it used it up and impressed me to the maximum. It’s one of those books that you’ll find yourself thinking about at the sweetest, easiest moments, like if you’re falling asleep at night or simply sitting in Math class on a Thursday morning. At first, when you look at it and read the summary, you may think that it’s a cliché, easy-going novel, but TRUST ME, it’s so much more than that and I’d need years to explain it. It also needs 1000 more pages because I can’t get enough of it. I’m sure about that.
who is your favourite contemporary author/writer? do they make your heart jump with feels as morgan does for me? do you enjoy stories about second chances and summer? (my favourite season of them all.)
Key to Book City 